Rising star Sophie Nyweide talks 'Mammoth', 'An Invisible Sign of My Own' (EXCLUSIVE)

Sophie with her "Mammoth Family"
Shelly Gibson

Sophie Nyweide isn't your ordinary fourth grader. She has a cow and two pet goats, two of her snowboarding friends are heading to the 2010 Winter Olympics, and at just 9 (and a half) she could already be considered a world traveler. That would make her extraordinary enough, but to top it off she's also an aspiring and talented young actress who's walked the red carpet (in Berlin) with Gael Garcia Bernal and will strut it again in Hollywood with her An Invisible Sign of My Own co-star, Jessica Alba.

The Vermont native, who splits time between her home state and New York City, sat down for a phone interview with Examiner.com to talk about her latest movie, Mammoth. The independent film, where she co-stars with Michelle Williams and Gael García Bernal made it's U.S. debut this weekend in New York City. It's been slowly released across Europe and with any luck this fantastic little film will make it to indie theaters across the U.S.

Sophie plays an 8-year-old little girl whose successful New York parents are married to their work. Sophie's character, Jackie, spends most of her time with her nanny Gloria (pictured right), a situation that makes her mother, Ellen [Michelle Williams] start to question her priorities. When Jackie's dad, Leo, travels to Thailand on business, he unwittingly sets off a chain of events that will have dramatic consequences for everyone. "The movie's about decision parents have to make and how those decisions affect their children. Sometimes in good ways and sometimes in bad ways," Sophie tells Examiner.com.

Sophie says working with her two "movie parents" was wonderful. "She [Michelle Williams] was amazing, she is such a good example to me. She is really good at improvising. She was always professional and always prepared she was a really good actress." As for Gael García Bernal, Sophie was equally complimentary of his acting skills, but more importantly his personality off camera. "He was so funny. He was always making jokes and he would skateboard around the studio."

From a very early age Sophie was pretty much destined to be an actress. Not only is acting in her genes (her mother is former television and commercial actress Shelly Gibson) she also grew up in the projection room of the indie theater her parents own and operate in Vermont. "I wanted to act and she at first didn't want me to because she didn't want to be stage mother. But when I was three she let me be an actress because my dad said to her 'if you love it then why don't you let her do it?" She takes a quick breathe and tells me, "I also wanted to [act] because I grew up in a movie theater. Maybe I saw some I wasn't supposed to," she giggles, "but I did. Seeing all those movies pretty much made me want to act."

Sophie is also featured in New York City Serenade, Margot at the Wedding (where she tells me her scene with Nicole Kidman was "left on the floor of the editing room"), and she has a lead part in the upcoming film An Invisible Sign of My Own (where she became friends with fellow celebrity kid Emerald-Angel Young). Her very first film Bella, won the Audience Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival.

While she sums up our interview by simply saying, "I love acting!" she also loves typical nine-year-old little girl things. She enjoys spending time with her friends, playing with her pet farm animals, and snowboarding. And she has a few backup plans in case the whole acting gig doesn't work out. "I want to act. I really do. But I still want to snowboard and I want to be a doctor." But if her current work is any indication, Sophie Nyweide has a long acting career ahead of her!